Izsha
Kerrigan's Swarm |job=Medic (formerly) Adviser |family= |voice=Karen Strassman |concept= |concattop= }} Izsha, formerly Amanda Haley,SoMuchMass. 2011-10-22. BlizzCon 2011 - Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Campaign and Lore Panel (Full). Youtube. Accessed 2011-10-22.2011-21-10, Interview: Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Campaign and Lore Facts You Need To Know. G4TV, accessed on 2011-21-10 is a zerg advisor in service to Sarah Kerrigan. She is a unique type of zerg, one of a kind.2011-10-22, BlizzCon 2011 - Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Campaign and Lore Panel (Full). YouTube, accessed on 2011-11-07 Biography Early Life Amanda Haley was a young medic, and had spent two years serving on a space platform. Although she possessed telekinetic powers, a "gift" that sometimes drew the attention of others, she somehow escaped the notice of those in the Ghost Program. However, she, along with her team, did not escape the attention of the Queen of Blades. She was imprisoned in a cell on a space platform infested by the zerg.Neilson, Micky. "StarCraft: Hybrid." Amazing Stories 601 (Spring 2000): 70-75. Prisoner Haley spent a week in captivity, listening as the cell doors of her companions opened as they were taken to whatever fate awaited them. She tried using her psionic powers to undo the lock of her cell but a combination of fatigue and some kind of psionic dampening in the station made her efforts useless. Eventually she came to the conclusion that if she could save her strength, somehow ferret away a reserve of her energies, then perhaps she could store enough energy to gain freedom. The gamble paid off in that when the cell door opened, Haley unleashed her psionic powers on the infested terran sent to retrieve her, destroying its skull. She thus made a break for the hangar. Infestation Haley's escape was doomed from the start, considering that Infested Kerrigan had jettisoned all of the craft there. An infested terran sampled her blood. Haley was not aware of the results, but it mattered little; she was infested just the same. Due to some incompatibilities between her genetic code and the formula that Kerrigan was using (which Kerrigan knew about), Haley became a slobbering, malformed, half-zerg, half-human genetic defect, robbed of any humanity or intelligence. Advisor Haley was re-formed into the creature known as Izsha. In earlier times, Kerrigan used her to store her thoughts and plans. Blizzard Entertainment staff. 2011-05-31. Story. Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net official website Accessed 2011-06-01. On at least one occasion she entrusted Izsha with a plan to infest a planet using the hyper-evolutionary virus through its water supply. Izsha reunited with Kerrigan following the latter's de-infestation and subsequent return to the Swarm. She served as an advisor, recalling memories from her time as the Queen of Blades and helping her to reclaim the SwarmStarCraft Legacy staff. 2011-05-30. May 2011 HoTS Gameplay Info. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2011-05-31. while remaining attached to her queen's leviathan.2011-05-31, May 2011 HoTS Fansite Interview. StarCraft Legacy, accessed on 2011-05-31 However, she may have had ulterior motives.2011-05-31, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm preview. ShackNews, accessed on 2011-07-08 Game Effect Izsha, in Heart of the Swarm, plays a role similar to Matt Horner from Wings of Liberty, providing the player with the distribution of missions and tactical/intelligence support, along with plot points relevant to Kerrigan's past.Heart of the Swarm Screenshots, Kotaku. Accessed on 2011-07-08 It is unlikely that Izsha will appear on the field of battle in missions as per her attachment to the leviathan. Izsha's portrait is made available to players after reaching level 5 in their zerg XP in Heart of the Swarm.25-10-2012, Heart of the Swarm Preview: Leveling. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2012-11-01 Personality and Traits Izsha exemplifies a midpoint for Kerrigan, standing between Kerrigan's cold rationality and the feral nature of the Swarm. She harkens back to the ideology of the Overmind, but is still a rational individual.2011-11-08, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm interview—Blizzard breaks down Zerg lore. PC Gamer, accessed on 2011-11-19 Notes While Abathur was designed to be "evil," the concept of Izsha was to strike a balance between human and monster. Unlike Abathur, Izsha was to have a face that the player could talk and relate to, one that Kerrigan could have more of an emotional connection with.2011-06-01, Interview: StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm director Dustin Browder. Shack News, accessed on 2011-07-08 Izsha's original background had her as an adjutant, from an era where they were cybernetic rather than synthetic.2011-05-31, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Hands-On Preview - Zerg Campaign. Gamespot, accessed on 2011-07-08 Her organic components allowed her to be infested by the zerg.Maxwell McGee. 2011-05-31. Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Hands-On Preview - Zerg Campaign. Gamespot. Accessed 2011-05-31. By BlizzCon 2011, her backstory had been altered, instead portraying her as a former Amanda Haley.2011-10-22, BlizzCon 2011 - Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Campaign and Lore Panel (Full). YouTube, accessed on 2011-11-07 Although promotional materials suggested that she might have ulterior motives for assisting Kerrigan, no hint of this appeared in the campaign. References Category: Terran psychics Category: Infested Terran characters Category: Zerg characters Category:Zerg characters in StarCraft II